Dark green oil in new Acra ASG-618S

I just bought a new Acra ASG-618S surface grinder, and the oil in the upper sight glass looks black.

When I first powered up the machine, the oil that appeared was a clear light amber color, but after a few minutes, it turned very dark. Under a flashlight, I can see that it's actually dark green, and only appears black without illumination. The oil in the tank is the same dark green color and smells strongly like a typical automotive gear oil. I wonder if the system was primed and tested with a light amber oil, and then the tank was later filled with something dark green.

The manual calls for Mobil Vacuoline 1405, which the MSDS describes as light amber.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm tempted to swap it out just to be sure. Seeing the sight glass turn black is disconcerting.

Can anyone confirm if Vacuoline 1405 has a strong gear-oil smell? I can smell it in my small shop, but it isn't clear if that's just residual on the outside of the machine. Some of it spilled during transportation.

Change it out. Sometimes debris is left behind in the tanks, and flushing it is a good idea.

That's definitely not Vacuoline. I use Vacuoline 1405 in my Brown & Sharpe grinder. It doesn't smell like gear oil and is a light amber in color.

eKretz said:

That's definitely not Vacuoline. I use Vacuoline 1405 in my Brown & Sharpe grinder. It doesn't smell like gear oil and is a light amber in color.

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Thanks. That's what I wanted to know. Looking through the manual, it calls for an oil change after the first month. I may push that up.

It could be some equivalent oil, but I have not seen dark green before. I guess I would probably take a thin smear of it on some paper and make sure there are no odd particulates. Maybe even a quick glance under a microscope would be smart - I wonder if a filter or something might have disintegrated. I've seen similar things happen (oil darkening) when a rubber hose was attacked by some ingredient in the oil also.

1405 is relatively thin - not quite water-like but not far off. How does this stuff compare in viscosity?